27 March 2012 12:14 PM

Alzheimer's: A living death

My friend Iwan does not recognise his wife. That is a tragedy for both of them. Alzheimer's disease has destroyed their life together. If only something could have been done earlier. This is now the hope of the Prime Minister for new sufferers.

Iwan and I went through school, the army and medical school together. He was supremely fit and joined the SAS, eventually being their doctor. He could not have kept himself in better shape, physically and mentally. But fate, probably through his genetic inheritance, dealt him a terrible blow. His mind has died. While I sit blogging, he just sits. I weep for my longest friend and for his family.

Mr Cameron says that he wants 'an all-out fight-back against dementia'. It seems an odd phrase for him to use because, until now, dementia always wins in the end.

But we thought that about HIV. Yet nowadays many sufferers live active lives for twenty years after the date of diagnosis. How wonderful it would be if, after further research, earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment, we can say the same for Alzheimer's disease.

Already one quarter of all hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from dementia. As the population lives longer, that figure will rise. This is a clinical and financial problem of epidemic proportions.

Research funding will now more than double, to £66 million a year, by the year 2015. All patients over 75, admitted to hospital for any emergency, will be screened for dementia. Screening will also take place in the community, as part of the regular NHS check-up for people between the ages of 40 and 74.

The hope is that earlier diagnosis will lead to more effective treatment and richer quality of life for longer.

I remember the time when Iwan and I were in medical school together. Many cancers were then untreatable. Nowadays the frontier has been pushed back. Many cancers are now treatable, giving either extended comfortable and functional life, or they are even totally curable.

That must be the hope for future sufferers from Alzheimer's disease, perhaps the most frightening of all chronic illnesses.

My father's mind failed three years before his body packed up. He had an undignified and disturbing end to his bright, creative life. I don't want that to happen to me. Or to anyone else.

Living Death

My friend Iwan does not recognise his wife. That is a tragedy for both of them. Alzheimer's disease has destroyed their life together. If only something could have been done earlier. This is now the hope of the Prime Minister for new sufferers.

Iwan and I went through school, the army and medical school together. He was supremely fit and joined the SAS, eventually being their doctor. He could not have kept himself in better shape, physically and mentally. But fate, probably through his genetic inheritance, dealt him a terrible blow. His mind has died. While I sit blogging, he just sits. I weep for my longest friend and for his family.

Mr Cameron says that he wants 'an all-out fight-back against dementia'. It seems an odd phrase for him to use because, until now, dementia always wins in the end.

But we thought that about HIV. Yet nowadays many sufferers live active lives for twenty years after the date of diagnosis. How wonderful it would be if, after further research, earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment, we can say the same for Alzheimer's disease.

Already one quarter of all hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from dementia. As the population lives longer, that figure will rise. This is a clinical and financial problem of epidemic proportions.

Research funding will now more than double, to £66 million a year, by the year 2015. All patients over 75, admitted to hospital for any emergency, will be screened for dementia. Screening will also take place in the community, as part of the regular NHS check-up for people between the ages of 40 and 74.

The hope is that earlier diagnosis will lead to more effective treatment and richer quality of life for longer.

I remember the time when Iwan and I were in medical school together. Many cancers were then untreatable. Nowadays the frontier has been pushed back. Many cancers are now treatable, giving either extended comfortable and functional life, or they are even totally curable.

That must be the hope for future sufferers from Alzheimer's disease, perhaps the most frightening of all chronic illnesses.

My father's mind failed three years before his body packed up. He had an undignified and disturbing end to his bright, creative life. I don't want that to happen to me. Or to anyone else.

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DR ROBERT LEFEVER

Dr Robert Lefever established the very first addiction treatment centre in the UK that offered rehabilitation to eating disorder patients, as well as to those with alcohol or drug problems. He was also the first to treat compulsive gambling, nicotine addiction and workaholism.
He identified 'Compulsive Helping', when people do too much for others and too little for themselves, as an addictive behaviour and he pioneered its treatment.
He has worked with over 5,000 addicts and their families in the last 25 years and, until recently, ran a busy private medical practice in South Kensington.
He has written twenty six books on various aspects of depressive illness and addictive behaviour.
He now provides intensive private one-to-one care for individuals and their families.

He has written twenty six books on various aspects of depressive illness and addictive behaviour.

He now uses his considerable experience to provide intensive private one-to-one care for individuals and their families.